{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:00:03Z","timestamp":1785427203675,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782432000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Commonwealth Scholarship","award":["NGCS-2022-713"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NGCS-2022-713"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010011","name":"Harper Adams University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010011","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00z20c921","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Plants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Film-forming antitranspirants may help potatoes tolerate moderate drought, but their effects on early tuberisation and tuber size distribution remain unclear. Two pot experiments were conducted in a polytunnel (late summer) and a glasshouse (winter\u2013spring), with moderate drought imposed during tuber initiation and early bulking, alone (DT) or combined with an antitranspirant (di-1-p-menthene; VGDT). Leaf relative water content (RWC), stolon traits, and tuber yield and size distribution were measured. Moderate drought reduced RWC, stolon number, and tuber set, which indicates the sensitivity of early tuber development to water deficit. VGDT increased leaf RWC under drought from 55% to 71% in Experiment 1 and from 62% to 73% in Experiment 2, while the total tuber number under moderate drought increased from 5.2 to 11.7 tubers plant\u22121 in Experiment 1 and from 6.1 to 10.7 tubers plant\u22121 in Experiment 2. VGDT also increased the number of large (\u22659 cm) tubers, shifting size distribution towards marketable classes. Although Vapor Gard improved plant water status and tuber number under drought, it did not restore performance to irrigated levels. These findings indicate its value as a complementary tool to mitigate drought-related losses during tuberisation, not a substitute for irrigation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/plants15131971","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T08:43:57Z","timestamp":1782463437000},"page":"1971","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Potato Tuberisation Responses to Drought and a Film-Forming Antitranspirant"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-0672-1121","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oluwatoyin Favour","family":"Olu-Olusegun","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Crop Science Group, Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire TF10 8NB, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aidan","family":"Farrell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1784-4907","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"James","family":"Monaghan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Crop Science Group, Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire TF10 8NB, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9499-3629","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter","family":"Kettlewell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Crop Science Group, Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire TF10 8NB, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1016\/j.plaphy.2019.11.019","article-title":"Carbon Partitioning Mechanisms in POTATO under Drought Stress","volume":"146","author":"Aliche","year":"2020","journal-title":"Plant Physiol. Biochem."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gervais, T., Creelman, A., Li, X.Q., Bizimungu, B., De Koeyer, D., and Dahal, K. (2021). Potato Response to Drought Stress: Physiological and Growth Basis. Front. Plant Sci., 12.","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2021.698060"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nasir, M.W., and Toth, Z. (2022). Effect of Drought Stress on Potato Production: A Review. Agronomy, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/agronomy12030635"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fang, G., Yang, S., Ruan, B., Ye, G., He, M., Su, W., Zhou, Y., Wang, J., and Yang, S. (2024). Research Progress on Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Mechanisms of Potato in Response to Drought and High Temperature. 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